Mobile abattoir

ABSTRACT

A mobile abattoir, particularly for slaughtering and processing sheep and members of the deer family. The abattoir is in the form of a towable, wheel-carried and covered vehicle which includes a machine room (11) that houses equipment for supplying electricity, water and heat distribution, a personnel room (50) and three processing stations, namely a first station (20) which includes lifting and transporting equipment for bringing a slaughtered animal to a first hanging and carcass processing position, a second station (30) which includes equipment for transferring the animal carcass from a hanging position in the first station to a lying position on a longitudinally movable processing bench (31), where the skin of the animal is removed from the carcass, equipment for connecting the carcass to a third station (40) which includes a movable transport part (15) and in which the carcass is finally processed while hanging from the path, whereafter the thus processed carcass is moved to a cooling space (60).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile abattoir, or slaughterhouse inthe form of a towable, wheel-carried, and covered vehicle including apersonnel section and a plurality of processing stations for processinganimal carcasses.

2. Description of the Related Art

A mobile abattoir of this kind is known from SE-A-448,144 and isintended to rationalize the large scale slaughter and dressing ofreindeer for instance, and to prepare the animal carcasses fordismemberment.

Taking its starting point from the known technique, the presentinvention is intended to rationalize the slaughter of animals stillfurther and to this end provides an improved mobile abattoir with whichpractically all manual lifting work is eliminated while obviating theneed to turn the animal carcass when proceeding from one processingstation to another.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means whichenable animal carcasses to be skinned in one working operation and theskinned carcass to be transferred from one processing station toanother.

Another object of the invention is to provide a towed vehicle which canbe extended with the aid of simple means to include necessary coolingspace for processed animal carcasses.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a towed vehiclewhose length and width lie within the dimensions permitted for countryroad and highway transportation, but which is so constructed as toenable the length and the width of the vehicle to be significantlyenlarged when setting-up the vehicle for work of the nature intended. Itis important that this change in vehicle dimensions can be effectedquickly and simply.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the invention is achieved with an abattoir in theform of a towable, wheel-carried, and covered vehicle the includes amachine room for housing equipment for supplying electricity and waterand for heat distribution, a personnel section, and three processingstations. The processing stations include a first station having liftingand transporting means for bringing an animal carcass to a first hangingand carcass processing position, a second station having equipment fortransferring the animal carcass from a hanging position in the firststation to a lying position on a longitudinally movable processing benchwhere the skin of the animal is removed from the carcass, and a thirdstation in which the carcass is finally processed while in a hangingposition, whereafter the thus processed carcass is moved to a coolingspace. A movable transport arrangement permits conveying the carcassfrom the second station to the third station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other characteristic features of the invention are set forth in thesubsidiary claims and will also be evident from the followingdescription of a preferred exemplifying embodiment made with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an inventive mobile abattoir;

FIG. 2 illustrates the mobile abattoir of FIG. 1 schematically fromabove;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the improved abattoir in itsworking mode;

FIGS. 4 and 4A illustrate the driven slaughtering bench forming part ofthe abattoir in more detail, namely in side view and from aboverespectively;

FIG. 5 illustrates the means coacting with the bench in FIGS. 4 and 4Afor securing the hooves of the animal carcass, so as to strip-off theskin of the animal carcass with the aid of the movable processing benchand the elevator coupling; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the cooling section combined with theabattoir.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The mobile towable inventive abattoir is built on a three-axledwheel-supported chassis, and its forward part carries a towing bar 10which can be connected to a towing vehicle (not shown) in a conventionalmanner.

The mobile abattoir also includes a machine room to which access can behad from one short side of the vehicle. The machine room (see FIG. 2) 11may include, among other things, a diesel driven electric power plant, adiesel-driven hot-air plant, a diesel-driven high pressure washingplant, a hydraulic pump, a water pump, an electric fuse box, one or morebatteries, for instance 12-volt batteries, a water heater, a dieseltank, and a water tank. All of this equipment, and other equipment thatmay be installed in the machine room for running the abattoir aregenerally available and are not shown or described here in detail.Although not shown, the system also includes, of course, pipes and linesfor distributing electricity and water within the mobile abattoir.

The mobile abattoir in accordance with the present invention has aheated floor which includes a centrally sunken and covered waste conduit13 (see FIG. 2) having an outlet 12 which exits through one wall of theabattoir. The floor is covered with aluminium footboards. The abattoirwalls have a sandwich construction and are appropriately insulated.Included in the walls are a number of discard flaps or hatches 14through which waste can be discharged and which are all placed on thesame side of the abattoir, i.e. along one long side thereof. Althoughnot shown, suitable containers may be placed beneath respective hatches14.

When in tow, the mobile abattoir has a length which complies withrestrictions concerning transportation on highways/motor ways, and canbe extended both in length and in width to a working mode, as will beexplained below.

When in its working mode, the inventive mobile abattoir includes a firstprocessing station 20, a second processing station 30 and a thirdprocessing station 40. The abattoir also includes a room 50 forpersonnel and a cooling station 60 for finally processed animalcarcasses.

The different processing stations will now be described in detail.

The first processing station 20, also referred to as the blood drainingstation, is the station in which an animal to be processed is firstreceived. The animal is anesthetized outside the abattoir and a chain isthen connected securely to one rear leg of the animal and hookedsecurely to a hinged lifting arm 21, (see FIG. 1) wherewith the hookmeans 22 is raised and swung inwardly and docked against a carcasshanging path 15 in the station 20. Subsequent to being transferred fromthe lifting arm 21 so as to hang head downwards from the firsthorizontal section of the path 15, blood is drained from theanesthetized animal and runs down into a gully 24 (see FIG. 2), whilethe head is severed from the remainder of the body and is dischargedthrough the hatch 14 and down into the collecting container (not shown).The last section of the carcass hanging path 15 slopes downwards andenters the second processing station 30. The second processing stationincludes an elongated carcass processing bench 31 which has a specialconstruction and which will be described below in detail with referenceto FIGS. 4, 4A and 5. In principle, the processing bench is comprised ofcontinuous chains which pass around mutually opposite rollers 32, 33,and V-shaped supports which extend transversely between the chains. Theprocessing bench is operated by an electric motor 34 which includes anadjustable variator.

The carcass arriving from the first processing station 20 along thesloping section of the hanging path 15 is removed from the free end ofsaid path and placed on its back on the bench-carried supports, with therear end of the carcass facing in the transport direction A. The frontlegs of the carcass are severed at the knee joints, while the two rearlegs are also severed at the knee joints, although not completely sothat they still remain appended to the skin. Thus, a lower part of therear legs of the carcass will be connected with the carcass skin. Asthis takes place, the processing bench is advanced slowly in thedirection of the arrow A. As clearly shown in FIG. 5, the lower rear legparts attached to the skin of the carcass are locked firmly in the benchand thus accompany the bench in its slow forward movement, at the sametime as the free upper ends of the severed rear legs are secured to thebottom end of an electrically driven and obliquely upwardly movingelevator 35. The elevator 35 will then draw the carcass obliquelyupwards at the same time as the parts of the lower rear legs connectedto the driven bench 31 will pass over the turning point (the frontroller 32) so as to move in a direction which is roughly opposite to thedirection of carcass movement, and therewith draw the skin from thecarcass. Subsequent to having stripped the skin completely from thecarcass, the skin falls down onto the underlying floor and through ahatch 138 therein, whereafter the skin is removed for treatment, forinstance to be cured and tanned.

The processing bench 31 is shown in more detail in FIGS. 4, 4A and 5.

As will be seen from these Figures, the bench 31 includes a framestructure 130 which carries an endless swivel-joint chain 132 which isdriven by the electric motor 34. The chain 132 coacts functionally withopposing U-shaped carcass support devices 133, and two such opposingdevices form an upwardly extending V-shaped support. The animal carcassto be processed is placed between the U-shaped devices longitudinally onits back. A number of such V-shaped supports are disposed in mutuallyspaced relationship along the chain 132. Each third V-shaped support 133is provided, for instance, with a locking or latching means for securingthe rear hooves of the carcass. One such locking means is illustrated inFIG. 5 and is shown placed on one side of a V-shaped support 133 andincludes horizontally movable, opposing latch bolts 134, 135 which arepositioned at a distance above the lowest point of the V-shaped supports133, this lowest point presenting a short, vertical and centralpartition wall 136. The locking position of the latch bolts 134, 135 isindicated in chain lines in FIG. 5, wherein the latch bolts are intendedto retain the partially severed rear legs of the carcass, as indicatedin dotted lines in FIG. 5.

It was said earlier with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 that the free endsof the rear legs of the carcass, which lies on its back on theprocessing bench, are coupled to the elevator 35, which is driven in thedirection of arrow B (FIG. 1). As will be understood, when those partsof the rear legs of the carcass that are still attached to the carcassskin are held firmly by means of the latch bolts 134, 135 and the freeends of the rear legs are connected to the elevator 35 driven in thedirection of the arrow B, two generally opposite forces will begenerated, namely the force exerted by the endless chain 132 upon returnmovement of said chain (at the left end of the bench in FIG. 4 or 4A),and the generally oppositely acting force exerted by elevator 35. As aresult, the skin will be drawn from the carcass and will accompanymovement of the chain 132 beneath the bench, the upper side of which iskept free for effecting the same process on the next following carcass.

As will be seen from FIG. 4A, a conical plate 137 is mounted beneath thebench. This plate functions to bring the latch bolts 134, 135automatically to a release position, i.e. a non-latching position, so asto enable the skin to fall to the floor, for instance through a hatchprovided in the floor beneath the bench and opened through the medium oflimit switches not shown. This hatch is indicated in FIG. 2 and isreferenced 138.

When the skin is stripped from the animal carcass in the aforedescribedmanner, no hair from the skin will come into contact with the skinnedcarcass and neither will hair fall onto the processing bench, but isdeposited on the floor surface beneath the bench. This is extremelyadvantageous from the aspect of hygiene.

The aforementioned automatic release of the push bolt function isachieved as a result of coaction between the conical plate 137 (FIG. 4A)and oblique surfaces 134' and 135' on the respective bolts 134, 135.

The skinned carcass arrives from the elevator 35 to the third processingstation 40, which also includes a hanging path 15, and the carcass willtherefore hang with the rear legs attached to the hanging path 15 bymeans of a conventional butcher's hook or like device. The intestines orguts of the animal are removed in station 40, together with viscera,etc., i.e. lungs, heart, kidneys and liver, which are hung up separatelyfor veterinary inspection. It will be evident from the aforegoing thatthose parts of the carcass which are removed in the various dressing orprocessing stations 20, 30 and 40 and which are not intended for furtheruse are discarded through the waste hatches 14. An animal carcass thathas been processed in accordance with the aforegoing and accepted forhuman consumption is passed to a cooling station 60 still hanging by itsrear legs, as will now be described.

The cooling station 60 (FIGS. 2 and 6) extends along essentially thewhole of one long side of the mobile abattoir. In its simplest form, thecooling station is comprised of a hydraulically operable roof section 61and a hydraulically operable floor section 61' (FIG. 6). In theinoperative mode of the abattoir, these two sections form what can bereferred to as an outer long side wall of the abattoir. When the roofsection 61 is lifted by means of hydraulic piston-cylinder devices (notshown), the roof section will lie in or generally in the same plane asthe remainder of the abattoir roof. The floor section 61' is extendedhydraulically outwards and downwards and the plane of said floor sectionlies in the same plane as the remaining floor surfaces of the abattoir.As will be seen from FIG. 2, the roof section of the cooling space 60 isequipped with a number of mutually parallel hanging paths 62, whichextend in the longitudinal direction of the abattoir and each of whichhas an end which curves to connect with a transverse hanging pathsection 62' which, in turn, can be connected to the hanging path 15'arriving from the processing station 50, by means of a telescopicconnection. A sliding door 63 enables the hanging path 15 in theprocessing station 40 to form a continuous unit with the hanging path 62in the cooling station 60, thereby enabling dressed and processed animalcarcasses to be moved easily from the processing station 40 to thecooling station 60.

Up to 800 animal carcasses can be handled in the above manner in eachworking shift with a personnel complement of 6-8 members.

The inventive abattoir also includes a well-organized personnel room.The personnel section 50 of the abattoir is comprised of atelescopically extendable module. The personnel section can thus bewithdrawn hydraulically into the main body of the abattoir in thedirection of the arrow B (see FIG. 2) and includes all the facilitiesnecessary for personnel comfort. In the transporting mode of theabattoir, the longitudinally extending outer wall of the section 50 alsoforms the outer wall of the abattoir.

The first processing or dressing station 20 can also be withdrawntelescopically into the main body of the abattoir in the direction ofthe arrow C, and can also be raised and lowered.

The inventive mobile abattoir thus provides large handling spaces, whichin turn contributes towards a high handling rate. The provision of acooling space 60 enables a large number of animal carcasses to be storedin a satisfactory way prior to being transferred to separaterefrigerated vehicles. If so required, for instance in unfavorableweather conditions, the cooling station 60 can be complemented withextendable plastic sheets to form walls which will protect the hangingcarcasses.

As will be understood, the mobile abattoir also includes washbasins forwashing knives, etc., and also knife-sterilizing means. The abattoirwill also be equipped with water-carrying hoses when considerednecessary, including high pressure hoses. Downwardly swingable plasticdoors and/or hot-air curtains may be provided between the firstprocessing station 20 and the second processing station 30, forinstance. The abattoir includes proper ventilation of the processingstations 30 and 40, in particular, which is achieved in a known mannernot illustrated in detail here.

I claim:
 1. A mobile abattoir for processing slaughtered animals, saidabattoir comprising: a towable, wheel-carried and covered vehicle whichincludes a machine room for supplying electricity and water and for heatdistribution, a personnel room, and three processing stations, includinga first station having lifting and transporting means for bringing ananimal carcass to a first hanging and carcass processing position, asecond station having means for transferring the animal carcass from ahanging position in the first station to a lying position on alongitudinally movable processing bench at which the skin of the animalis removed from the carcass, means for conveying the carcass to a thirdstation which includes a movable, carcass transport means and in whichthe carcass is finally processed while the carcass is in a hangingposition, and a cooling space adjoining the third station, wherein inthe second station the carcass is placed on the movable processing benchwith a front end of the carcass facing towards the first station,wherein rear legs of the carcass are partially severed beneath the kneejoint to provide a lower rear leg part and an upper rear leg part sothat the lower part of the rear legs will remain attached to the carcassskin, wherein the skin-attached lower part of the rear legs isdetachably connected to the movable processing bench while the free,severed upper parts of the rear legs of the carcass are connected to alifting device extending between the second station and the thirdstation and which slopes from the third station towards the processingbench in the second station, wherein the direction of movement of thelower rear leg parts carried by the processing bench and the directionof movement of the upper rear leg parts connected to the lifting deviceare in different directions relative to one another, and wherein thecarcass skin is removed from the carcass as the carcass is transferredfrom the processing bench to the lifting device that conveys the carcassto the third station.
 2. An abattoir according to claim 1, wherein theprocessing bench travels in an endless, oval path, and the removedcarcass skin is released from the processing bench at an underside ofthe processing bench and is deposited onto the ground through anopenable hatch in the bottom of the vehicle.
 3. An abattoir according toclaim 1, wherein the processing bench includes a frame structure whichcarries an endless chain which is driven by an electric motor, whereinthe chain supports a plurality of mutually spaced V-shaped supportdevices for supporting an animal carcass, and wherein a plurality ofsaid V-shaped support devices include opposing push latch bolts forretaining lower rear leg parts of an animal carcass on the supportdevice.
 4. An abattoir according to claim 3, wherein aleg-part-receiving space is defined between two mutually opposing pushbolts and an associated support device when the push bolts are in anextended, retaining position, wherein the space includes an upper partdefined by an undersurface of each of the push bolts and a lower partdefined by a member that extends between V-defining parts of a supportdevice.
 5. An abattoir according to claim 3 wherein each of two opposingpush bolts includes an obliquely extending part and the processing benchincludes a plate member positioned to contact the obliquely extendingparts at a predetermined position of the support devices, relative tothe processing bench, for returning the push bolts to a retractedposition.
 6. An abattoir according to claim 5, wherein the obliquelyextending parts include an edge surface for sliding contact withcorresponding oblique surfaces on the plate member.
 7. An abattoiraccording to claim 1, wherein one side of the towable covered vehicleincludes a first extendable part for defining a roof of a cooling space,and a second extendable part for defining a floor in said cooling space,and wherein a closable opening is provided in the one side of thevehicle to permit communication between the third station and thecooling space.
 8. An abattoir according to claim 7, wherein the coolingspace includes rails which are so disposed that a free end of at leastone rail is adapted to connect with a free end of a corresponding railin the third station for transferring hanging carcasses from the thirdstation to the cooling space.
 9. An abattoir according to claim 1,wherein the first station is mounted on the vehicle for telescopicmovement relative to a side of the vehicle.
 10. An abattoir according toclaim 1, wherein the personnel room is mounted on the vehicle fortelescopic movement relative to a side of the vehicle.